Squid Game

Squid Game, South Korean horror thriller television series that was released on the streaming service Netflix in September 2021 and quickly became its most-watched series that year, going on to achieve global popularity and become a pop culture phenomenon. The series, created and directed by South Korean director Hwang Dong-Hyuk, explores issues of socioeconomic disparity and the desperation of those in difficult financial situations.

Hwang also directed the film Silenced (2011), which explores the true story of abuse at a school for the deaf; Miss Granny (2015), a musical comedy; and The Fortress (2017), a historical action film. In 2008 Hwang, inspired by his own financial difficulties and the larger issue of debt in South Korea and beyond, began working on a movie about inequality. However, he eventually converted his idea into the TV series Squid Game, which takes its name from a Korean children’s game.

Plot summary

The show begins with Seong Gi-Hun (played by Lee Jung-Jae), an unemployed man with a gambling problem who owes a great deal of money to loan sharks. After Gi-Hun wins a small amount of money in a degrading game of ddakji (a game based on attempting to flip your opponent’s origami square by throwing your own) with a stranger on a subway platform, the stranger offers Gi-Hun the opportunity to win a very large sum of money if he participates in an unspecified contest.

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After Gi-Hun agrees to participate, he is picked up by a masked driver in a van with other players in the back seat, all of whom are soon gassed unconscious. Gi-Hun awakens in a secret location, where he and hundreds of other contestants are now wearing track suits bearing numbers (Gi-Hun’s number is 456). The contestants are told by armed guards in red jumpsuits and masks bearing symbols such as squares and triangles that the contestants will play six games for “a handsome amount of money,” 45.6 billion South Korean won, or $38 million (U.S.). Those who object to participating are shamed in front of the group, their debts revealed for all to see. The contest begins with the children’s game “red light, green light”—but with a fatal twist. Those who lose are killed in a hail of bullets by the officiant, a giant robot doll named Younghee, which is named for and designed to look like a character from South Korean elementary-school books. Participants had been unaware of the life-or-death stakes until this point, leading many to vote to leave the competition, which temporarily halts the games. However, the crushing nature of their debts leads a majority of participants to choose to return, and the games resume. Like the first game, subsequent rounds of the competition feature children’s games with life-or-death stakes.

The nine-episode season introduces other characters and tells their stories, providing insight into the financial need that drove them to participate in the deadly contest. Although some of the games, such as the title game, are native to South Korea; others, such as tug-of-war and marbles, are well-known among Western audiences, which increased the show’s international appeal. While participants fight to survive, they question who is behind the contest and eventually realize that the deadly games are live entertainment.

Themes and inspiration

The theme of a deadly contest has been explored in other books and films, including Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game” (1924, film 1932); Stephen King’s novel The Running Man (1982, film 1987); and Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series of novels (2008–10, films 2012–15). Squid Game has also been compared to the long-running American reality challenge show Survivor, although losers in that game face only expulsion from the game (and wait out the remainder of the contest at a resort).

Hwang cited survival game comics and his own financial woes as inspiration for the series. Audiences identified with Squid Game’s themes of economic hardship and desperation, the struggles faced by average people in an oppressive capitalist system, and the widening gaps between social classes. Hwang chose childhood games with simple rules in order to keep the audience’s focus on the characters. The show also kept viewers in suspense with gradual reveals and surprising twists revolving around its morally complex characters.

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Reception and awards

Within four days of Squid Game’s worldwide release on September 17, 2021, it was Netflix’s top-rated show, becoming the first Korean drama to rank so highly in the United States. Within four weeks, the series had been watched in 142 million households globally. The popularity of the show extended beyond Netflix subscriptions; casual footwear company Vans reported a 7,800 percent increase in sales of the white slip-on shoes worn by the show’s characters; sales of dalgona, the honeycomb treat featured in one of the contests, increased as well. Language-learning apps even saw more users sign up for Korean lessons. Squid Game is part of Hallyu, Chinese for “Korean Wave,” describing the global popularity of Korean culture, which also includes Korean television shows (K-dramas), pop music (K-pop), films, and food.

Between 2021 and 2022 the first season of Squid Game received 89 award nominations from entertainment groups around the world and won 44 awards. At the Emmy Awards Hwang won for outstanding directing for a drama series. Lee Jung-Jae won in the outstanding lead actor category. Oh Yeong-Su won a Golden Globe Award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role on television for his portrayal of the mysterious Oh Il-Nam, and Lee was nominated for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series. Jung Ho-Yeon (who goes by Hoyeon) won for outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for her performance as cutthroat contestant Kang Sae-Byeok, among others.

In November and December 2023 Netflix released Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality contest based on the same games featured in the show, but without the fatal penalties for those who lose. Of the 456 contestants from all over the world, one contestant won a cash prize of $4.56 million (U.S.). The highly-anticipated second season of Squid Game was released on December 26, 2024 and features Gi-Hun in his pursuit of the creators of the game.